Smith has become a regular public speaker at typically packed public meetings where he butted heads often with McCaffrey and the board. He will run unopposed on both major party ballots in November to serve a six year term.

Residents recently filled the spacious township meeting room and clashed as supervisors and the public debated how to best discipline a township manager facing charges for allegedly misappropriating township funds.

The public had its say as 31-year employee and two decade township manager Ron Rambo resigned after the district attorney levied charges in April.

The supervisorsrecently settled another contentious when they crafted a new ordinance for keeping chickens after a year’s discussion and 11 draft ordinances.

McCaffrey, 64, ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign on both the Democratic and Republican May primary ballots. The final tally is not yet tabulated, but McCaffrey said he did not garner enough write-in votes to overtake Smith on either ballot. McCaffrey said he was one day late filing a required application with the county and was not included on the primary ballot.

McCaffrey said Smith capitalized on the large turnout at meetings.

“People seem to have no memory for what has happened in the past,” McCaffrey said. “Doug played to the crowd. He’ll still be playing to the crowd. If you play to people’s emotions, it goes over so much better.”

Smith, 52, said he is a little nervous, a bit excited and he found the election process sobering.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Smith said. “West Brandywine residents aren’t stupid, they are very smart people. It was the right message at the right time. Residents were looking for somebody to do the right thing.”

During the campaign, Smith said he knocked on the doors of 250 to 300 prospective voters.

“The best part of the campaign was meeting the residents—going around talking to the people,” Smith said. “I’m going to make it a habit to get out and knock on doors on a regular basis so I have a really good idea of what’s going on.”

Smith said he also wants to make township government more transparent andwould like to make it easier for residents to contact supervisors at times other than when meetings are taking place.

McCaffrey looked back on his more than 20-year career as a supervisor, including a stint as a supervisor in West Bradford Township.

He pointed to minimal tax increases, increased public participation during meetings and his work to conserve open space as major accomplishments.

When McCaffrey was first elected in the township during the early ’90s, the township controlled no open space, while it now oversees almost an entire square mile, or about 600 acres.

“Land planning is the biggest thing for a growing township,” McCaffrey said about changes to zoning ordinances.